Show-rack



T. P. MoGANN.

SHOW RACK.

N0. 3945 Patented Dec. 18, 1888.

n PETERS. Mow wanm. o r.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS F. MCGANN, OF SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS.

SHOW- RACK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 394,595, dated December 18, 1888.

Application filed April 23, 1888. Serial No. 271,543. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS F. MCGANN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Somerville, in the county of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Show Racks or Stands, of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention relates to show racks or stands; and it consists in the devices and combinations hereinafter described and claimed, the general purpose of which is to furnish a convenient means adapted to be placed in a great variety of positions for displaying goods in a store. 4

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an isometric perspective view of my invention attached to the under side of a horizontal shelf; Fig. 2, a side elevation of the same attached to a vertical wall or surface, another position of the same being shown in dotted lines; Fig. 3, a side elevation of the notched disk and its stud, a part of the rod supported thereby, and the set-screw which retains said rod in said arm; Fig. 4, a plan of the same parts as are shown in Fig. 3; Fig. 5, a plan of the toothed disk and a part of the arm to which it is secured; Fig. (3, an elevation of the toothed side of the disk shown in Fig. 5 and a partof said last named arm.

In Fig. 1, A represents a shelf, ceiling, or other horizontal surface, to which the supporting-plates B B of the show-rack are secured by nails or screws or other usual means, and A in Fig. 2 represents a wall or other vertical surface, to which similar plates are attached by similar means. By inverting Fig. 1 it will be apparent that the supporting-plates may be secured to a floor or above any h0rizontal surface, and by turning Fig. 2 in various positions it will be equally apparent that said plates may be secured to any inclined surface.

The plates B B are provided with pairs of ears I) 1), between which pairs, respectively, are pivoted on parallel pivots b b arms C C'- two in a setin such a manner as to swing freely in the same plane, which will ordinarily but not necessarily be in a vertical plane. Each set of arms 0 0', two sets being shown in Fig. 1, consists of a longer arm, 0, and a shorter arm, C, the free end of the shorter arm being pivoted by a pivot, (1, parallel with the pivots 5 If, to a slide, D, provided with ears (I to receive the free end of said arm C and to support the pivot r. The slide 1) is provided with a slot, (l', through which the longer arm, is passed, and which is large enough to allow said slide to move freely on said longer arm to adjust the positions of said arms, a setscrew, (1 turning in a threaded hole in said slide and thrusting against said longer arm to hold the arms in position after adjustment; or the slide may be a split collar closed by a binding-screw upon the longer arm in a wellknown manner. The outer nearly-straight end portion of the longer arm may thus be held at almost any angle to the surface which supports the rack.

To the outer end of the longer arm is secured a disk, 1, arranged in. a plane parallel with that in which the arms move, and pro- Vided with a central orifice, e, through which a binding-screw, f, is driven into a threaded hole, f, in the center of another disk, F, to draw the said disks in contact with each other. One of said disks is preferably provided with one or more pins, teeth, or projections, and the other disk with corresponding holes or notches to receive said projections and prevent the disk F from turningon the disk F. when the disks are held in contact by the screw f.

In the drawings the disk E, Fig. 6, is represented with two such projections, e, and the disk F, Fig. 3, with corresponding notches, f but the teeth and notches may be omitted and the disks be prevented from turning by friction, the parts E F representing any usual form of clutch.

The disk F has a projecting stud, f rigidly secured thereto, and provided at about right angles to the axis of the binding-screw f with a hole, f through which a bar, G, is passed, said bar being held from moving by a set-screw, f turning in said stud and thrusting against said bar. The bar G, when arranged in a horizontal position, may be used to display goods hung directly thereon. It is intended, l1OW6"61,tO use the bar G as a means of supporting other bars or rods having a greater capacity. Accordingly, one or more hooks, H, are provided with holes h to receive the bar G, and are held in place on said' bar by set-screws h, which turn in the shanks of said hooks and thrust against said bar, the opening of the hooks or hooks proper, 77?, receiving rods I, which are retained therein by set-screws 7L3, turning in. said hooks proper and thrusting against said rods. "Where the rods I are very long, they should be supported near the ends or at suitable intervals by duplicates of the devices above described, as shown in Fig. 1. The hooks I-I turning in a plane at right angles to the axis of the bar G, the long rods I may be supported by such duplicate devices in a horizontal position even when the supporting-plates of two sets of arms are secured to surfaces at an angle with each other, provided the bars G of said device are arranged vertically at equal heights.

Upon the rods I goods are suspended for display or other purposes by laying them over said rods or by suspending them from the' same by cords or hooks. Goods may also be supported on the longer arm, if desired, in a similar manner.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination of two arms pivoted in the same plane, means, substantially as described, of adjustably securing the free end of one of said arms to the other of said arms, to retain the same in position and to enable the position thereof to be varied, a clutch, one counterpart of which is secured to the free end of said last-named arm and the other,

counterpart of which is provided with a stud, and a bar supported by said stud'to vary the position of said bar when said clutch is uncoupled and to hold said bar in position by thecoupling of said clutch, as and'for the purpose specified;

2. The combination of two arms pivoted in the same plane, means, substantially as de-' scribed, of adjustably securing the free end of one of said arms to the other of said arms,

' to retain the same in position and to enable the position thereof to be varied, a clutch, one counterpart of which is secured to the free end of said last -named arm and the other counterpart of which is provided with a stud, a bar supported by said stud, hooks secured to said bar, and rods supported in said hooks to vary the position of said rods, as and for the purpose specified.

The combination of two arms pivoted in the same plane, means, substantially as described, of adjustably securing the free end of one of said arms to the other of said arms, a clutch, one counterpart of which is secured tothe free end of said last-named arm, a bar tothe free end of said last-named arm, a bar supported by the other counterpart of said clutch, hooks having shanks provided with holes to receive said barand to allow said hooks ,to be adjusted along on said bar and around said bar, set-screws turning in said. ,shanks and thrusting against said bar to re-.

,tain said hooks in place on said bar, and rods supported in said hooks, as and 'for the purpose specified.

1 In witness whereof I have signed this specification, in, the presence of two attesting Witnesses, this 18th day of April, 1888.

I THOMAS F. MCGANN.

itnesses: 1

CHARLES M. BARNES, GEo. H. MURPHY. 

